How to win 2048

Everyone’s playing it, some people can complete it with their eyes closed and others are getting so frustrated by it. If you’re reading this, chances are you belong to the latter.

Here are my tips for how to win 2048. It does not guarantee that you win every time but does greatly increase your chances of winning. You may be tempted to do something different at some point but usually that’s where it all begins to go wrong!

If you’ve not played the game before, please follow the links below to download it.

• Apple Appstore
• Android Play Store

How to win 2048 – Method

Start by getting the largest number you have in the bottom right hand corner. If you can’t do this don’t panic sent everything in the lower right hand corner and eventually the tile in the lower right corner will be the largest.

Important Tip: You want to try to only swipe downwards or right. This will help to ensure that your largest tile stays in your bottom right hand corner. There are times where this may not be possible and I will help you get out of this in troubleshooting.

In the diagram my largest number is 512 which I have successfully got in the bottom right hand corner. Next you need to pile numbers on top of the 512, try to get the 256 on top of the 512. Then get the 128 above the 256.

Important Tip: Try to always ensure that your right hand column is completely full with four tiles

WHY? There are times where you may not be able to swipe right or down. By having the right hand column full you allow yourself to be able to swipe upwards if the need ever arises.

Keep going until you have setup something similar and once you get another 64 you will create a domino effect to get the 1024 tile

Once you manage to get the 1024 tile it’s important that you manage to fill the right hand column up again as quickly as possible.

Here I am ready to get the 512 tile to go on top of the 1024.

Now concentrate on getting the 256 and 128 on the right hand column

Now we have the 1024, 512, 256 and 128 the game will be very easy to complete.

Important Tip: By following this method the grid will sometimes almost completely fill up and you may be tempted to try something different, never swipe left!!!

WHY? The moment you swipe left you will lose your spot in the bottom corner. Which can sometimes be recovered but its best to try and avoid it. See trouble shooting at the bottom for tips on recovery.

Here we are ready to complete the game with a domino effect

Here is the completed game, you can now try to get the 4096 tile. I haven’t managed to get this tile yet but if I do I will post a guide.

How to win 2048 – Troubleshooting

There are times when you can avoid breaking the rules and you get yourself in a muddle here are a few tips to fix two of the main problems.

Problem 1: The Rectangle problem – You end up with a rectangle of size 3 columns by 4 rows and you cant swipe right, down or up. You have to swipe left

At this point you have to swipe left so the new tile will appear on the right hand column. The higher up this tile appears, the luckier you are. Provided is doesn’t appear in the lower right hand corner, immediately swipe right again. The other tiles will have dislodged but the largest tile will remain in the bottom right hand corner.

If the new tile happens to appear in the lower right hand corner, swipe upwards until that spot is free, once its empty, swipe right.

Problem 2: Accidental swipe up/left – You accidentally swiped up or left by mistake and dislodged the largest tile from the lower right hand corner

Here I made a mistake and swiped upwards. To fix this try to fill up row 3 so that it is completely full and cannot be simplified and ensure the 4^th row is not full.

As you can see row 3 contains 4, 2, 8, 1024. Now swipe left and the 8 tile will move left one but the 1024 will remain where it is. Now swipe down and you have got the 1024 tile again.

If you are unfortunate enough to have the new tile appear in the lower right corner, repeat again.

Here I have successfully recovered from the mistake

How to Win 2048 – Summary

If you follow the steps above you will increase you chances of completing the game to 2048 greatly. It does not guarantee that you will complete the game every single time you play, I currently have a success rate of about 30%. Let me know how you get on and if you have any more tips or troubleshooting, please share